Nurses
by MadnessJones
Summary: TF Prime. Breakdown sees June Darby tending to a group of humans he injured and gains a new perspective on the human race. Oneshot. No pairings.


_Author's Notes: Trigger warning: realistic description of human injury and car crash setting. Okay, now that the warning is out of the way, I hope you guys enjoy this fic. I wrote this when I realized there were similarities in June and Breakdown's job descriptions, but I couldn't find a fic that put them in the same situation. I hope this turned out okay, and please review :)_

* * *

 **Nurses**

The Decepticons' mission had started out well, but as usual something had gone wrong. Knockout and Breakdown were assigned to distract the Autobots while Megatron's forces investigated a cache of energon one of the Vehicons had found on a scouting mission. There had been two Autobots at the scene; Bumblebee and Bulkhead. Knockout raced the Autobots' yellow bug while Breakdown and Bulkhead fought for road supremacy.

Breakdown taunted Bulkhead by practically driving circles around him despite being on a two lane road. The blue brute was feeling confident in his ability to take down Bulkhead and keep the Autobots away from that energon. Everything went sour, however, when Breakdown drove to the edge of Jasper Nevada and Bulkhead rammed right into him!

Breakdown's secondary fuel lines had been damaged in the crash, so instead of ramming Bulkhead back he sped away to find cover. Bulkhead seemed more interested in the energon than Breakdown, so Breakdown was able to make good his escape.

Breakdown knew his self repair systems would be able to handle the damage eventually but also knew it could take hours, so he tried to comm the Nemesis for a ground bridge. Just his rotten luck, his comm system was damaged as well. He tried to send a short-range message to Knockout, but he got nothing but static. Revving his engine in frustration, Breakdown decided his best course of action was to try to drive back to the energon mine and rejoin the troops.

He sped along the straight roads of the sleepy town he found himself in. He knew Bulkhead's human pet lived somewhere in this area, but he didn't know where exactly. That was too bad. He knew crushing that little organic would probably break Bulkhead, and given their history Breakdown knew that was something he would thoroughly enjoy.

Breakdown was lost in thought as he sharply turned a corner, and he crashed right into an oncoming sedan!

* * *

June Darby was driving down the road on her way home from working the night shift when she saw the crash on the side of the otherwise empty road. A blue truck and a green car had collided into each other so hard that a good portion of the smaller car was smashed in. It could be a while before the EMTs arrived, if they even knew at all. She knew she needed to see if there was anyone alive that could be saved, but first she needed to make sure help was on the way.

She parked on the side of the road and dialed 911, then gave the name of the street to the operator. She was glad she called them when she did since the dispatch told her no one had called about it. That was bad. It meant no one in either car had been able to make the call, which meant it was likely no one was conscious.

June kept the line open but left her own car as she made her way to the green car; the one with the most damage. The front driver side door was too jammed to open and would have to wait for the jaws of life, which meant she couldn't turn the car off. June decided to open the back door instead. She saw that there was a boy in the back of the car, just a little younger than Rafael, and both of his parents were in the front seats; too bloodied to be identified.

She leaned into the back seat and listened for breathing. He was breathing! She knew moving him could cause further injury, so she examined him where she was. There were a few minor cuts, but he was unconscious so there could be some internal damage. He was also cold and getting paler, so he was going into shock. June took off her thin jacket and wrapped it around the boy's chest, then tried to remove his seat belt so it wouldn't obstruct blood flow. The seat belt was jammed, so she pulled a pocket knife out of her purse and started cutting away at the offending object.

* * *

Breakdown watched as the human diligently worked on her patient. He couldn't see them clearly, but with most of the front window gone he could make out movement from the back seat as the organic femme stabilized her patient. He had seen this human before, but he didn't quite know where.

It amazed him how similar her moves were to his own when he was working. He had been forced to operate on many mechs and femmes in the line of fire on the battlefield. It wasn't exactly like the current scenario since the humans had no one trying to kill them, but the isolation, the desperation, and the silent prayers that backup would come soon were all very familiar to Breakdown.

He surreptitiously scanned the two humans in the front seats. The driver had been a mech, or as the humans called it, male. He was dead. The passenger was femme, and she suffered severe spinal injury but was somehow still clinging to life.

Breakdown then noticed something else from his scans of the surrounding area. His fuel line breach had gotten worse, and the energon had mixed with the gasoline on the ground. Given he had been knocked back into an electrical pole, those wires could drop at any moment, igniting the fuel.

If he transformed he could just run away and leave the humans to their fate, but there was something about the lone human female tending to an injured sparkling that gave Breakdown pause. Somewhere deep inside his coding he knew it was wrong to abandon someone that was only there to treat injured civilians. He was a medic's assistant, and it was his job to care about the injured.

Making his decision, Breakdown transformed, which caused the human female to stop working and stare up at him in trepidation.

"The fuel could ignite," Breakdown informed her without preamble, "You have to get that sparkling and the femme out of here now!"

"What about him?" June asked as she jammed a thumb in the direction of the driver.

"He's already dead. Move, now!" Breakdown ordered impatiently.

June went back to the little boy and supported his head and back as best as she could as she pulled him away from the car. Breakdown groaned when he saw how slowly she was moving, and tensed even more when he saw that the power line was about to break away from the pressure of the pole being dragged down by gravity. June managed to drag the boy closer to her car, but Breakdown knew the whole place was going to blow, so he ripped open the front car door of the crashed sedan and pulled out the unconscious woman.

"Hey, you could kill her, you brute!" June reprimanded him.

"She's already dying, now climb on!" Breakdown snapped as he held his hand out for them.

June took a deep breath to calm herself down, and then picked up the boy and walked onto Breakdown's hand. Breakdown was too weak to run due to his own injuries, but he was able to limp away from the crash site before the car exploded a mere minute later.

"I need to call the 911 dispatch back," June announced once they were safely on another street, "They need to know my new location. Also, you should probably transform if you don't want people around town gawking at you."

"You don't seem too surprised to see me," Breakdown observed.

"I've seen Autobots before," June shrugged before returning to her patients.

"I'm a Decepticon," Breakdown corrected her even as she wrapped gauze around the bleeding woman's neck injury.

"Oh? Is that why you attacked these people?" June asked bitingly as she continued her work.

"Hey, that wasn't my fault!" Breakdown snapped defensively, "If those slaggers had just watched where they were going none of this would've happened!"

"A man died today," June replied bitterly while she leaned down to listen for breathing, "And this woman might join him."

"It's just two humans," Breakdown scoffed indifferently, "There are billions of you, and when Megatron is finished with your planet you'll be lucky if there's thousands left."

"Oh yeah? Tell that to _him_ ," June retorted as she pointed to the unconscious boy with her chin; hands too occupied to gesture.

Breakdown said nothing more as the human continued to work. He didn't even know why he was staying. He should just go back to meet with the other Decepticons and be done with this whole mess. Still, a part of him was curious to see how this saga would end. Like someone watching a movie he wanted to know if the characters would die in the end or if they would survive.

June, meanwhile, continued to alternate between checking on the woman and treating the child. The boy's injuries weren't life threatening, but they were things that she could handle from where she was so she focused on them. She noticed a broken leg and searched the area for something to use as a splint. She couldn't find anything, so she had to ignore that injury in favor of tending to his cuts. The woman was very badly injured and might not survive, but June still spoke softly to both of them as she wrapped a towel around the woman to help stave off shock.

"Hey lady," Breakdown finally spoke up after a while, "It's been almost a half hour. Where's your stupid human medics?"

"They'll be here," June replied resolutely, "I just need to keep these people comfortable and stable until then."

"You seem to know what you're doing," Breakdown noted, "You a medic?"

"I'm a nurse, and my name is June in case you care, which I doubt you do," June replied testily as she cleaned a wound on the woman's right shoulder.

"Nurse..." Breakdown looked up the word using a wifi connection, and then said, "Oh, so you're a medical assistant."

"That's right," June replied.

"So am I," Breakdown informed her, "I work under Knockout. He's a good friend, if you don't mind calling your best friend _boss_. My name's Breakdown, by the way. Oh, I hear something coming. Guess I better transform."

Breakdown turned into vehicle mode before June could say anything further to him. She saw an ambulance turning a corner and smiled in relief as it parked nearby. The EMTs came out and started checking vitals on both mother and son. One of the emergency responders checked the car to see about the man inside, but then turned away with mournful professionalism when he realized there was nothing he could do. June helped them move the two survivors into the ambulance.

"Say June, what happened to the other car?" One of the technicians asked, "Your call said two cars crashed into each other, but I only see one."

June turned back briefly and noticed that Breakdown had already driven away.

"Yes, well, the other driver wasn't as bad off," June explained, "It was a hit and run. Drive quickly, Gary."

"I will," The EMT assured June, "What a way to end the late shift, huh?"

"Not how I planned to spend my morning, but Jack will understand," June replied with a tired smile, "I'm just grateful I'll see him after he gets home from school today. When I see things like this, it reminds me how lucky I am, and then I feel guilty for feeling lucky. I just hope these people pull through."

She said her goodbyes to the EMTs as they drove away with the two victims. She sighed and went back to her own car, thoughts swirling around in her head. On the one hand she had encountered a Decepticon and survived. On the other hand she didn't know how to feel about him or the situation. He destroyed the lives of an innocent family and didn't even seem to care, yet she wondered if maybe that nonchalance was an act. He did stay when he didn't have to, and he told her that they held the same job. Breakdown was an enigma, and certainly something she would want to talk to the Autobots about.

* * *

Knockout ranted about Bumblebee scratching his paint job as he gently tended to Breakdown's fuel lines and comm system. As Breakdown lay there on the medical berth he listened to his friend's tirade while at the same time enjoying his company. Knockout was a complex mech, though most would never know that. To most he was merely vain and egotistical, but Breakdown knew better. Knockout would yell loudly, seek revenge viciously, and tend to the wounded with care and a certain tenderness that held no place in any other part of his life.

Breakdown was beginning to see complexities in other parts of their mission as well, and thinking too hard on such things made his helm hurt. The humans were inferior life forms and deserving of conquest...at least that was what Breakdown had once thought. Now he saw that they were capable of both skillful care and a surprising amount of restraint. He couldn't get the encounter out of his processor.

June. She was more like himself than she would ever know. Part of him had considered staying longer and asking her questions. He was curious about her medical technique and about the culture that produced such a dedicated medical assistant, but he knew he couldn't stay. He was a Decepticon, and he had no place caring about some inferior squishy hairball.

Then again, was she really inferior to him? Sure, she wasn't as smart as Knockout or Starscream, and she wasn't as powerful as Megatron, but she had courage and compassion. Even when she realized she was standing before an enemy she still carried on with her duty. She may have been human, but she and Breakdown were both of a special ilk. They were both nurses.

 **The End**


End file.
